


On Rare Occasions

by badwolfparadox



Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-05
Updated: 2013-03-05
Packaged: 2017-12-04 09:15:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,679
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/709094
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/badwolfparadox/pseuds/badwolfparadox
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The coach was more often than not, terrifying. Her brutal training sessions and tendency to violence was enough to make Kuroko shy away from her. But there were occasions in which she wasn't scary at all. In fact, sometimes, she was the warmest place to be.</p>
            </blockquote>





	On Rare Occasions

**Author's Note:**

  * For [tumblr user moehoshi](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=tumblr+user+moehoshi).



His coach was a lot of things on some occasions.

Most of those things added up to her being terrifying. Some of them added up to her being cute. The rest was just admiration for her strength and intelligence and dedication. All in all, she was a great coach. No one could deny that even if not a one ever admitted to her. He wasn’t sure why. Maybe they assumed she already knew. She was pretty confident to boot after all.

But what he didn’t know was that she was also incredibly warm.

She found him in the library by himself. Well it was more like she happened upon him by accident as she was looking for books to read during her study period. Nevertheless, now that she had finally noticed him, there was nothing else for Riko to do but join him. He was by himself after all and she couldn’t help but find that strange. Shouldn’t Kagami or one of the other freshmen be around here somewhere too? But alas, no. It was just him. Sitting alone with a pile of books and not looking at a single one. 

She dropped her books in front of him with a loud smack, causing him to jump. There was something rewarding in seeing him jump in surprise for once. “Kuroko-kun, what are you doing here by yourself?” It was a simple enough question. But for some reason, he just stared at her with his mouth agape. Like the answer was stuck in his throat. Instead he looked at the pile of books she left in front of him, as if the answer was there instead. That struck her as odd.

And so she pushed aside the books and sat up on the table instead so he couldn’t look away from her. Or rather it would be a little more difficult to. Either way it was clear that she wasn’t going anywhere. “You might as well spill it, Kuroko-kun.”

“…I was just thinking.”

“Pray tell, about what?”

He gripped his knees as he prepared himself to spill his guts to his often terrifying coach. He didn’t want to admit it but god it was just eating away at him and he couldn’t afford to have his thoughts affect their games. So, he let it all out in something close to a whisper. How much facing the Kiseki no Sedai hurt. How much it hurt to see people he considered his friends once now become his enemies. He had so many good memories in Teiko, why had they turn to shit now? His eyes stung just thinking about it.

“Coach… Has someone ever disappointed you so much that you couldn’t stand them anymore?”

She clenched her teeth. “Yes. I have. So much so that it wasn’t just being disappointed. I felt betrayed.”

He looked up at her and noticed a familiar look in her eyes. “How do you handle it?”

She placed her hands on her lap and stared into space for a while before she answered. It looked as if she was recalling some sort of painful memory and Kuroko began to regret asking in the first place. But she smiled softly, tilting her head. “There’s no one way to handle it. But to some extent, it’s a matter of letting go. You can be angry for a while and use that anger constructively. But in the end, it will become the past and you’ll need to focus on your future.”

“But it hurts.”

“It was always hurt Kuroko. That’s the worst part about friendships.” She closed her eyes at this, “Because it’s never really your enemies that hurt you the most. It’s the ones closest to you.”

And it was only in the one moment, that Kuroko realized that they were very similar. Not in personality per se. She was definitely more lively than him. But he could tell they had similar ideals. Similar desires. Similar experiences. Now he understood why it was so easy to trust her despite her abuse and eccentricity. Now there was only one thing he wanted to do.

“Coach… Do you mind coming closer?”

She looked at him with a confused look before sliding closer to his end of the table. And practically jumped out of her skin when he wrapped his arms around her. He could feel her body tense up at his touch. She probably opened her mouth up to tell him to get off. But instead, she relaxed and he could feel one hand on the back of his neck and one on the top of his head. She was cradling him, leaning his head against her chest. The two simply stayed like that for a while, in each other’s embrace. He could tell she wasn’t used to people touching her very often. But her hug was different or at least different from Momoi’s. Namely there was nothing choking his windpipes or in his way. But it was more than that. She didn’t cling onto him for dear life or squeeze him but it wasn’t timidly loose either. She held him to comfort him, not to comfort herself. He wished that this hug was about him comforting her heartache but he couldn’t say that to himself. He was being selfish. He wanted to cling onto her and release some of that pent up sadness. And she allowed him too, her hand like a comforting pat. She took it all in for him.

Her hug felt perfect.

“Kuroko-kun.” He could feel her breath in his hair, “I don’t like admitting this sort of thing. Namely because I don’t want to boost any of your egos. But I guess I can break one of my rules this one time. You should know how proud I am of you Kuroko-kun. So very proud. You’re the very reason why I firmly believe you don’t need just talent to win. You made it this far because you trusted your team, worked hard, and had a very strong desire to win. Those sort of things I admire the most out of people. I can’t really describe how proud it makes me to see you develop and grow right before my eyes.”

There goes that stinging sensation in his eyes.

“Now don’t get me wrong. You still got a mountain’s of a journey ahead of you before we reach the top. But looking at you and everyone else, I know we can make it there. Just know we will make it there together, okay?”

He couldn’t even respond at this point. He merely nodded in agreement before clutching onto her tighter. She was just so warm. How could someone so small, smaller than him even, be so strong and reliable and warm? Kuroko just couldn’t understand it. 

“I-I admire you a lot Coach.”

She let out a laugh. “Don’t start returning-“  
”No but I do! Coach is so strong and warm and dependable. We have the best coach I’m sure.”

She hestitated before smiling and responding. “Sometimes I’m not so sure of the strong part.” He could feel her shake her head, “No, I have to be strong. I’m strong because all of you need me to be. I’m dependable because I’m required to be. You guys would be lost without me I bet.”

“For certain I’m sure. Coach is the b-best.”

She pulled away from him much too early. “That’s enough sappy stuff, kiddo.” She grasped his chin between her fingers and lifted his head up to look at her. She smiled down at his watery eyes. “The point is, hold onto that faith Kuroko-kun. Maybe the people who wronged you will realize how wrong they were all along. Or maybe they will never understand. But just trust that you made the right decision. That’s how the hurt goes away.”

On these occasions his coach was also wise. 

—-

Their graduation was coming too quickly.

He could feel a tightness in his chest as she went on and on about the college she managed to get her “main idiot trio” into. They will still be together moving forward it would seem. She admitted though that she imagined they would grow apart at a point even if it was just a little bit. “Maybe we’ll get sick of each other.” Her laugh sounded a little bitter then and it hurt to hear it. But she went on, excited about the new opportunities she was going to get. And the new facilities, let’s not forget that. She looked so excited and it hurt to see so many of his senpai start to move on. It was happening all over again.

She got up to go pull stuff out of one of her lockers but he grabbed before she could leave, embracing- no clinging onto her again. “Kuroko-kun, what are you doing?”

“Don’t leave me alone.”

“…Kuroko you won’t be alone-“

“No I won’t. But… It won’t be the same without the senpai.” She could hear his words start to choke him. “I tried. I tried to get used to not seeing any of you again. But there’s no one to replace you, Coach. Who will be my coach? Who-“

He was interrupted by a smack to the back of his head. Followed by a comforting hand. “Dumbass, who said I was leaving you alone?”

He looked up at her smiling face in confusion, “But you’re graduating?”

“I couldn’t just leave you dumbasses alone, at least without a suitable replacement. Dad can’t, or maybe won’t do it and no one else is up to my standards.” She sighed and gave a shrug. “Which leaves only me. I worked out something and I’ll even get credit for continuing to coach Seirin as well. And I’ll get paid too~”

He could only stare up at her.

“What? Did you think I forgot about the last time you hugged me like this? How could I leave, knowing I would be repeating history?”

On some occasions, his coach wasn’t scary at all. Instead, she was the most comforting place to be.

On those rare occasions.


End file.
